dark brandon wrote:You sound like a battered girlfriend.
I think that comment is inappropriate at best, but I will say that I've felt like a cheated customer.
dark brandon wrote:You shouldn't buy something just because X company sells it. You buy something because you either need or enjoy it.
Nowadays, though, that can be a problem. With fewer and fewer LGSs around, and with the ones that are around carrying fewer products, previewing a title becomes tough. In order to know whether or not you're likely to enjoy something, gaining a familiarity and trust with a writer and/or publisher becomes very important.
In years past, I had that trust with Palladium. Palladium Fantasy (1st ed) was a very solid game, Heroes Unlimited (again, 1st ed) was a lot of fun, Ninjas & Superspies was unsurpassed at the time of its release, and Beyond the Supernatural (1st ed once again) was terrific. TMNT and Robotech, while not flawless, were milestone RPGs. And then there was Rifts. When it hit the scene, it was to my mind the best game out there. In that period, even though I could preview most of the books Palladium put out, I didn't need to. I was buying product nearly as fast as it was released.
Within a couple of years, though, things started to change. Some great books were still being made, particularly by newcomers C.J., Bill, and James, but the 2nd editions of PFRPG and HU both felt flat to me and Rifts titles were becoming rather hit and miss. I began bringing a more critical eye to Kevin & Co.'s product and slowing down with my purchases.
By the early 2000's, the departure of those freelancers, mounting problems with Palladium's release schedule, and a seeming inability to keep up with the times (e.g., streamlining production techniques, trying out .pdfs, cleaning up the ruleset) were becoming frustrating. And it wasn't just for me, either. My LGSs were carrying fewer and fewer Palladium titles due to diminished interest and the aforementioned release schedule. While I managed to steer clear of the Siege of Tolkeen fiasco, two books that I couldn't check out before purchasing really frustrated me. Three Galaxies had the section I was most interested in (Space Warlock spells) cut out entirely, and while Kevin promised to post them as errata online, they have never been released. Chaos Earth was quite simply sold as something it was not: a complete game.
Both of those books reeked of dishonesty and/or ineptitude, and because of that and those other issues I mentioned, I quit buying new product. The last Palladium title I purchased was Splicers, a solid but unsupported game that was notably not written by Kevin.
So that's where I was when Kevin was taken advantage of and he began pleading for help. And I was torn. A company I'd had a good (heck, even a great) relationship with for a long time needed help, but supporting them just didn't seem right. Then Kevin started claiming that things were going to be different, that he wanted to get his mojo back and catch up with a forward moving industry. Some newer freelancers were sounding positive as well, and I liked what I heard. My hopes began to rise, but I was waiting for proof.
And that's where I am today. I'm still waiting. I'm hoping that all of Kevin's talk isn't just another bad sell that I buy into. I'm looking for evidence that I haven't been wasting a lot of time and energy on a company that I incorrectly thought might have turned a corner. I believed this errata was going to be a signal of that, but given how it's turning out, I'm asking myself whether that was a valid benchmark, and I'm frustrated.
Bottom line: If this were as simple as being able to look at a product and make a decision on it, there wouldn't be a problem. But I don't have that option. To make product decisions, I have to make judgements about the people behind them. And while I don't like it, I'm feeling like I might have to write Kevin off.
Its like waiting for the last book in the wheel of time series!!!!!!
